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November / December 2015 Newsletter

November 1, 2015

Dear Friends,

Do you know about Kickstarter? This groundbreaking initiative has engaged more than 9 million people from around the globe to fund innovative projects ranging from indie films to tech inventions using crowd-sourced funding. I want to ask for your collaboration on a new Kickstarter campaign sponsored by 1in6, which will launch on Monday, November 30th.

1in6 Board President Dr. David Lisak has interviewed and photographed scores of men around the world who have stepped forward to tell him their stories about reclaiming happiness in their lives in spite of their earlier traumatic experience. To date, he’s taken portraits of 54 men – each one, looking straight into the lens, proudly declaring his wellness.

What’s unknown to many is that these men don’t represent just a tiny minority. In fact, nearly 21 million men in the United States have had similar experiences in childhood. That’s one in every six of the men who work in your office, who are involved in your faith community, or who participate in your social networks. The Bristlecone Project is a resource that can benefit them all.

Masculine social norms discourage men from acknowledging vulnerability, experiences of victimization, or a need for help. Unfortunately, men who don’t address what happened to them as children are at a significantly higher risk for a host of physical and mental health issues, addictions, and other behaviors that negatively affect their lives and the lives of those who are close to them.

Feedback from men who’ve visited the site confirms that engaging with these stories of abuse, struggle, and triumph has given them hope and a feeling of connection.They describe, time and again,that after looking into the eyes of fellow survivors, they feel for the first time that they are not alone.

The Bristlecone Project is poised on the threshold of an important new dimension: the addition of video segments of powerful interviews done with each of the men in the project. With funds raised through the Kickstarter campaign, 1in6 will edit footage of the Bristlecone participants (including more than 40 hours already gathered), and produce a series of 5-10-minute video vignettes to bring their inspiring testimonies to life. The video portraits will be added to the 1in6 and Bristlecone websites, where they will serve to deliver a message of hope and healing to the thousands of men who visit these sites each month.

Please consider joining me in supporting this remarkable effort by making a contribution to the Kickstarter campaign. Also, by posting the Kickstarter campaign link on your social media channels, you can help to reset the socialized expectations about men successfully overcoming that stigmatizing shame. 1in6 and Bristlecone really are inspiring a dramatic change in the way men view their potential to heal from childhood trauma, to the benefit of themselves, their partners and families, and their communities.

We will post the 1in6 Kickstarter page link on the 1in6 website and on our social media early December.

Warmest regards to you and your family and friends for a happy holiday season,

Find Information & Get Help

The mission of 1in6.org is to help men who have had unwanted or abusive sexual
experiences in childhood live healthier, happier lives. Our mission also includes serving
family members, friends, and partners by providing information and support resources on
the web and in the community.

1in6 would like to recognize the exceptional contributions of time and talent by Dr. Jim
Hopper in making this website possible.